Man Who Built 10 ft Wide House Cashes Out

A Glaring Truth

After thinking about it for some time, he made up his mind: he redecorated the house. It cost him a lot of money, but it was what he had been dreaming of for ages.

When people saw the result, they couldn’t contain their laughter: his relatives, his friends, agents who should have been there to help him; everyone. But when he was almost done with the redecoration, he saw something that had gone unnoticed.

A House From The Past

When Liam Presley’s grandfather deceased, he left only one thing  in his name: an old house in Charlestown, Boston, which was almost literally falling apart.

When he first saw the house, he was bewildered by what he found. He couldn’t contain his tears; and they weren’t tears of joy and emotion for a beautiful sight. Instead, he felt like the victim of some cruel joke.

A Young Man  

Liam, aged 33, was the youngest member of the Warrens, a family from Boston. The Warrens were a powerful and famous lineage; historically, they had played a very important role in the country’s liberation more than four hundred years ago. 

But Liam didn’t really feel proud of being a Warren; instead, he saw it as more annoying than anything. He and his family were always under the spotlight, and sometimes he wished that he could remain anonymous. Little did he know that his luck was about to take a turn.

Not Taking It For Granted

Still, it would have been foolish of Liam not to recognize that being a Warren had its perks. He had a good life; he had gotten into a great university and was now starting his career as an architect. But she was headed for an event that would change his life forever.

One day, Liam was out of town when he received a sudden phone call. It was his mom. She told him something about his grandpa that left them absolutely appalled.

Sad News

Liam’s mom let him know that his grandfather had deceased. For a few minutes, Liam was unable to say anything. He just stood by the phone, paralyzed by the news. His grandfather had been one of the people he had loved and admired the most.

As a matter of fact, he had been the main reason why Liam had chosen to become an architect; the old man had been an architect himself. What Liam couldn’t imagine was that his grandfather’s death would influence his life as much as his life, and even more.

He’s Furious 

Days later, Liam’s grandpa was buried in the family mausoleum. And after that, the family congregated to read the testament, and Liam learned that his grandpa had left something for him.

At first, Liam was quite upset that he had only received an old house in Charlestown, especially considering that the rest of the family had gotten better pieces of the old man’s legacy. However, he would in time find out why his grandpa had left him that house.

A Derelict House 

It was a 1,165 square feet skinny house with busted windows and damaged walls. The lawn was not taken care of. And to make things worse, the wood was starting to rot away, and there wasn’t any furniture inside the house. 

When Liam first opened the door, he couldn’t help but feel broken-hearted by his part of the deal. He turned back, ready to go on his way. But suddenly, he noticed something.

Lost Architecture 

The architecture of the place was like nothing Liam had ever seen before. He quickly realized that the house was a whole time-capsule; almost like a museum.

He started examining each and every corner of the house, admiring its every detail. He smiled, thinking that maybe his grandpa had actually left him a hidden gem. And he suddenly had an idea: what if he turned things around?

Honoring His Grandfather

“I’ll renovate it, turn this into a monument to honor my grandfather,” Liam said to himself. He went back home that evening and started his plan. For the next two years, he devoted himself to the project.

He spent a lot of time and money on it; it was almost the only thing on his mind. Realtors used to tell him that he was wasting his time, and family and friends were concerned that he may have lost his mind. He would soon show them how wrong they were. 

Beauty That Transcends Time

It took him months of work. He thought he should maintain the house’s original style; he even did research on 18th-century furniture to redecorate it. By the time he was almost done with the project, people around him started noticing the results.

They had been dismissing his work and even laughing at him for two years. But all along, Liam had kept working and thinking on how to honor his grandpa in the greatest way possible.

It’s Done

Liam successfully finished the house, creating a time capsule to the 18-century with his design language. By then, he was the talk of Charlestown, a man who’d gone above and beyond to restore a house as an honor to his grandpa, who taught him everything he knew. 

The buzz spread throughout Boston, and soon enough, respected realtors came asking to acquire the house from Liam. Would he give it up?

A Million Dollar Reality

The house Liam had renovated was ten feet wide. It fit perfectly with the neighborhood and had the best aesthetics in the entirety of Charlestown.  

When he finally decided to sell it at auction, he had no idea how big the selling price would go. By the end of the auction, the highest bid was $1.25 million, a price that left Liam speechless. But there was more. 

Celebrating Lost Times

The buyer informed Liam that they weren’t necessarily going to live in the house but turn it into a museum to showcase the town’s heritage. They would populate it with more 18th-century furniture, paintings, and sculptures and open it to the public eye as a landmark site.

Regardless of what they were to do with the home, they would keep its original name. Would he accept such a deal?

The Right Thing To Do

Liam consulted with his family about letting the house go, and they all agreed that he should follow his heart. He’d started this journey angry at his grandpa for leaving him a derelict house, and now it was about to sell for more than a million dollars. 

Liam weighed everything and saw it would be best to sell the house. Although he’d grown attached to it over the years he’d spent renovating it, he knew it would be the best way forward. But was this the right thing to do?

Making The Decision 

Liam was caught between wanting to keep the house for himself and letting the public have it to celebrate his family’s legacy. As he sat pondering the matter, he realized that he’d felt this same way when he heard his grandpa’s lawyer read the will. 

He’d been selfish then, and that wouldn’t be the case here. He called the buyer and set everything in motion, knowing that wherever his grandpa was now, he was proud of all Liam had done. But how had an absurd 10-foot-wide house come to be in the first place?

An Impulse Purchase

Liam’s grandpa was a lover of oddities. When he’d seen the skinny house, he’d immediately fallen in love with it. He bought it on a whim, intending to fix it up and restore it to its former glory. 

He loved the house’s strange history and story. But, unfortunately, his ailing health prevented him from carrying out the renovations he had dreamed of. 

Unique History

The house was extremely unusual, and it had been built with a very particular purpose in mind: revenge. The man who had built it made sure that he made life very difficult for one particular group of people in his neighborhood. 

Placement was very important to Lewis Sharp, so much so that the house was so unpractical that livability seemed like an afterthought.

Peace And Quiet 

Lewis Sharp had lived in the 1830s, and was a hardworking man. He loved nothing more than to arrive home from a long day of work, pour himself a stiff drink, and relax for the evening. 

But one thing always stopped him from enjoying his peace and quiet in the evenings, and soon he was at his wits’ end.

Spark Of Brillance

Sharp was plagued by the noise of people loitering in the adjacent alleyway, and the sounds of broken bottles and late night brawls would float straight up into his upper-story window at night. 

More so, he was sick and tired of the loud clip-clop of the horse-drawn carriages as they clattered under his window. One day, he hatched a genius plan.

Revenge

Sharp began to cackle wildly to himself. He knew just what he would do to stop the infernal noise and get even. But was it legal?

He didn’t care about the logistics, he would do it anyway. He was going to stop the traffic if it was the last thing he ever did. They were all going to pay.

Making Them Pay

Sharp quickly put his plan in action and started to build. The alleyway was narrow, but he would make it work. No wagon would ever drive through here again, he thought gleefully. 

He hated traffic, and never wanted to hear it from his window ever again. Then, he ran into a complication.

Historical Stunt

The alleyway was public property, and Sharp was not permitted to build on it. But, he absolutely had to go through with his masterful plan for revenge. 

He used his position as a chairperson on the council board to get his way and pull off one of history’s biggest pranks — and leave his mark on the neighborhood forever.

Listing

More than 200 years later, Liam’s grandpa Charlie Warren saw the auction listing for Lewis Sharp’s house and knew he just had to buy it. It was an impractical and architectural oddity, but he had to have it. 

He had passed the historic “Spite House” for years on his way to his office, but he was never prepared for what he saw inside. 

Unprepared

Many house flippers would advise that redecorating and fixing old houses can become huge complicated projects and eat away at your savings. 

Fully aware of this and the fact that he bought this tiny “Spite House” on a whim, Charlie was not prepared for what was to come. Knowing that he was also getting on in years, he just hoped he’d be able to finish what he’d taken on.

Unfulfilled Dream

At the age of 60, Charlie Warren had become so enamoured with the “Spite House” that he made the impulse decision to spend all his savings on it. He kept it secret from his relatives and planned to do the renovations himself, but he’d been too optimistic about his health.

Within six months, his eyesight failed Soon after, he was forced to move into a care facility.  The skinny house stood crumbling for another ten years – untouched until Charlie’s passing. 

Saving Space

Liam had done an excellent job of highlighting original elements of the house, leaving the brick walls and wooden floors intact. 

He had made changes to make the home more space-efficient, such as moving the heating and cooling system to a tiny attic space, and installed space-saving cabinets to accommodate a water heater and even a stacked washer-dryer unit.

Holed Away

The house had a distinctive 18oos feel to it, and is also reminiscent of being in the cabin of a ship. 

In fact, it is so similar that Liam considered renting the house out to people who are about to embark on ocean cruises so that they can get used to living in such a small space.

Breathtaking Achievement

Liam stunned everyone with what he was able to achieve. He had dedicated himself to redecorating his grandfather’s house and simultaneously make sure that it resembled the period it dated back to. The results of his achievement were breathtaking.

Not only had Liam honoured his grandpa in the best way he knew how, he had made the town a little more magical.

A Monument

The residents of the town all love the house and the Liam enjoyed introducing new people to his humble abode before he sold it. Most people express amazement and the skinny house elicits an immediate reaction.

It’s become somewhat of a tourist attraction and there is even memorabilia like pictures on napkins and cards that show old scenes of the town on the walls. 

The House That Spite Built

Lewis Sharp’s stunt to divert traffic was unprecedented. The house he built in the alleyway was only 10 feet wide — 1,165 square feet  spread over two stories. 

The house was built using the adjacent houses’ walls, and the gouges from the wheels of the carriages that Sharp had hated so much can still be seen on the living room wall today.